Sharon Miller interview (transcript)

Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 1
RANCH FAMILY DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee: Sharon Miller
Place of Interview: Western Folklife Center, Elko, NV
Date of Interview: 30 October 2010
Interviewer: Brad Cole
Recordist: Brad Cole
Recording Equipment: RadioShack Cassette Tape Recorder CTR-122; Audio-technical Omni directional microphone ATR35s
Transcription Equipment: Power Player Transcription Software: Executive Communication Systems with foot pedal
Transcribed by: Susan Gross
Transcript Proofed by: Randy Williams (11/21/2010); Brad Cole (1/31/2011); Sharon did not return transcript with edits (3 August 2011)
Brief Description of Contents: Sharon talks about her family history in ranching and her adult and married life as a ranching wife. She talks about managing a ranch with her husband, raising their family on a ranch and the differences in raising beef and buffalo.
Reference: BC = Brad Cole (Interviewer)
SM = Sharon Miller (Interviewee)
NOTE: Interjections during pauses or transitions in dialogue such as “uh” and starts and stops in conversations are not included in transcribed. All additions to transcript are noted with brackets.
TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
[00:01]
BC: Brad Cole from Utah State University, Special Collections and Archives. It’s October 30th. And we’re here today in Elko, Nevada, at the Western Folklife Center visiting with Sharon and I can’t remember –
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 2
SM: Miller.
BC: Miller.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: Sharon, whenever I do an oral history, I like to always start from the very beginning and ask you when and where were you born?
SM: I was born in Springerville, Arizona, in January 31st, 1948.
BC: Okay. And who were your parents, and what was your maiden name?
SM: My maiden name was Wilhelm. My dad is James Emmett Wilhelm, and my mother is Zeldine Jarvis Dahm.
BC: Okay. And what kinds of things did they do?
SM: They both were ranchers. My grandparents were ranchers, and their parents were ranchers. So we are many generations of ranching.
BC: And just so the people know, where exactly is Springerville, Arizona?
SM: Springerville is in the White Mountains of Arizona.
BC: Okay.
SM: Just near the New Mexico border, about the middle of Arizona.
BC: Okay. And what are some of your memories growing up there?
[01:16]
SM: Well, one of my first memories is riding on the front of my dad’s horse, and I have no idea – I wasn’t a year old. It’s one of those, you know, just pinpoints of time. And a horse had eaten loco, and had hung himself in the crook of a tree. So that is one of my earliest memories. But my mom tells me that we would ride and ride and ride, and then she and I would get off, and I would take a nap. And then we would get back on and go on with my dad some more.
BC: And did you spend your whole childhood in Springerville, Arizona?
SM: No. We moved all over Arizona. But we were always in ranching.
BC: And then as far as arriving in Elko, Nevada, when did you arrive here?
SM: We have been here for 23 years; we manage George Gunn’s ranch. Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 3
BC: Okay.
SM: In Lee, Nevada.
BC: Okay. And where is Lee?
SM: Lee is about 30 miles south of Spring Creek.
BC: Okay. And you managed that for 23 years? So your husband’s name is?
SM: Tom Miller.
BC: Tom Miller.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: And how did you meet Tom?
[02:30]
SM: Well, I met him in high school. But he was kind of rowdy, so we didn’t date in high school. We graduated from Arizona State – he graduated in Ag Business. And we met there and were married in 1973.
BC: Great. And then you came to Elko then?
SM: No. Then he managed a farm equipment store in Chandler, Arizona – New Holland farm equipment. And then we moved to Winnemucca, and he managed the store there. And then we had the opportunity to come back to the ranch, so we took that opportunity. We have two sons, didn’t want to move to the city. And so we decided to move back to the ranch. And of course, that was a great cut in pay. People thought we had completely lost our minds, but a very good thing to do.
BC: And what are the names of your boys?
SM: Travis is the oldest, and Jake is the youngest; born eight years apart, to the day. Travis still ranches with us there, and my youngest is going to medical school in Omaha.
BC: Great, wow.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: And so what kinds of things does a ranch manager, or ranch managing family, do?
[03:49] Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 4
SM: Well, you do everything from brand and cut, to taking care of the business end of it, and trying to take care of the environmental end of it (that’s an important part now, is to make sure you are a wise steward). And especially since we manage it for someone else, you know, their interests are always foremost. And so we try to do the very best we can to manage it as if it was our own, but keeping in mind that we, you know, are just there as stewards – that one day we’ll be turned out to pasture! [Laughs]
BC: And what is the size of the ranch that you folks manage?
SM: There are 20,000 gated acres, and then George has eight canyons of forest permit. So it is huge; it’s most of the western side of the Rubies.
BC: Wow. So maybe just describe sort of a typical annual cycle of ranching, maybe starting in the winter through, you know, this time of the year (which is the fall).
SM: Ranching is typically growing the hay, cutting the hay, and feeding the hay. So in January, of course, you’re feeding the hay. My husband gets up at 3:30 every morning to feed the cows because he things that as cold as it is in the Ruby Mountains, that that helps for them to be eating, for their metabolism to be active early. And then it’s so cold, that actually you know, frost and ice are on the cows’ mouths. So if they’re eating then that doesn’t happen and the health of the herd stays better because of that.
[05:38]
So we feed in January. And of course all the way, depending on the winter, sometimes all the way through May there is deep snow. The first year we moved here it snowed over three feet on Memorial Day.
BC: Wow.
SM: So, as soon as we’re finished feeding, then of course we start irrigating. And then we irrigate and then hay all of the meadows (it’s all meadow hay, we don’t have any alfalfa). And then around the first of July we cut the hay. And about the same time, we take the cattle up the mountain. They’re Semmintal cows, bred to go to the very top of the mountain; so we don’t have any problems with riparian areas, you know, being damaged, or any of those kinds of issues that other ranches sometimes have. South fork of the Humboldt River runs right through the ranch, so we have plenty of water.
So about the same time we start cutting hay, they take the cows up the mountain and they stay there all summer. When we’re finished cutting the hay, then we bring the cows back off the mountain. And we calve in the fall, because the winters are so severe, and the springs (as I mentioned) still we have so much moisture and so much cold weather.
When we first started managing the ranch, they calved in the spring and calves would freeze to the ground, or you know, get upside down in the creeks and in the Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 5
river, and the coyotes would eat the calves. And so we didn’t like that, and so we changed the herd so that they calve in the fall. So we have that and it’s beautiful. The meadows are cut and the calves just can, you know, lay right down on what looks like huge lawns.
BC: Wow.
SM: And they do so well. We typically lose maybe one, and that’s all calf loss-wise. And then we put the bulls in with them around November, to start that cycle again. And George has decided now that he wants buffalo.
BC: Oh really?
[07:56]
SM: So in that little interim, before we have to start feeding again, after the hay is cut and stacked, then we have been building buffalo fence (which is seven foot tall fence that we build out of drillers steel), and that’s been an interesting addition to the herd.
BC: One more question about the herd.
SM: Sure.
BC: Is Semmintal a usual breed on a cow ranch around here, or is that a little bit different?
SM: There aren’t very many Semmintal – I don’t know of another Semmintal ranch right here. There is one in Idaho that we have bought bulls from in the past. But George likes red Semmintal cattle, and they are really kind of a dying breed. It’s hard to even find red bulls, more people are going to black meat because, interestingly enough, Japanese people think they can tell the difference between red and black meat.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: I wonder, but –
[Laughing]
But anyway, so many cattleman have gone to black Angus. And we do have – some of the herd is a mix: Angus and Semmintal. But we do have, you know, mostly pure Semmintal cattle.
[09:16]
BC: And then what is your methodology for haying now? Have you gone to the more mechanized system, with larger bales?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 6
SM: Um-hmm. Well, with Tom’s background, you know, in machinery –
BC: Right.
SM: We do big, round bales. And that’s easiest for us to feed, you know. We can take the big bales and stack them, and it’s not a matter of handling, you know, a lot of little bales.
BC: Um-hmm, right.
SM: And then in the dead of winter, when everything is blue – when the sky and the snow and everything is the same color – very easy to feed that.
BC: Um-hmm. And then does the water flow all year? Do you have –
SM: It does, um-hmm.
BC: So that makes it so you don’t have to worry about breaking ice on water.
SM: Umm-mm; nope, we don’t have to break ice; down where the horses are we do. But through the horse lot the river runs, so that’s not an issue. It is the best ranch I have ever seen because of the you know, availability of water. And then we get the first water off the mountain.
BC: Um-hmm. How long, do you know, has George owned this ranch?
[10:30]
SM: Since the [19]‘70s.
BC: Okay.
SM: And he put five different ranches together, actually. Right where we live is the Exitor, and then there’s the Stoddard, and the Grizwold, and the Carpenter; and then my son lives on another part of the ranch, which is on the Jiggs Highway. And that is the Old Clemen place.
BC: And what’s George’s background?
SM: George is the most interesting man I have ever met in my life.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: We absolutely love working for him. His dad and granddad were [?? – 11:05] years ago –
BC: Hmm.
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 7
SM: Anyway, they developed some kind of a new way to – I don’t know anything about beer – but anyway, from this way of brewing this beer they also were able to figure out Sanka. And he is involved with Kellogg’s cereal, his family. The Gund Foundation – they do a lot with education: Reading Rainbow. So it’s a wonderful foundation. They’ve come to the ranch a couple of times and met there.
[11:40]
He is very interested in film. His wife is a documentary film maker, and she is a wonderful little person. And anyway, I think anything in the world that is interesting, is interesting to George. He is a fascinating man.
BC: So he is not from a ranching background then?
SM: I’m not positive about that. His dad was interested in ranching.
BC: Then you mentioned – is most of your ranch work still done on horseback?
SM: Um-hmm, yeah. There’s just no other way to get up the mountains, except horseback. Yeah, we do have four-wheelers, you know for down around in the meadows, for irrigating and things like that.
BC: And how many horses do you have?
SM: We have about 25 horses.
BC: Any specific breeds?
SM: The stud that we have now is a Driftwood Ike stud, so he is absolutely beautiful: just prime quarter horse blood. And then I have a little colt that has Secretariat and Seattle Slew!
BC: Wow!
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: So have you been to the movie yet?
SM: We have been to the movie! [Laughing]
[12:59]
BC: My wife wants to go to the movie; I married into the horse business.
[Laughing]
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 8
SM: It is an excellent movie.
BC: Good.
SM: My little grandson is so proud that, Oliver, he was a little orphan colt. His mother died, the mare died, and so we fed him around the clock, every three hours.
BC: Wow.
SM: And he is a beautiful little horse. But my little grandson is convinced that he is going to be a race horse.
[Laughing]
BC: Funny. Well we need to get back to the buffalo: tell me a little bit more about it.
SM: Very interesting. When George first said, “I want buffalo.” Tom said, “I’m a cowboy, not a buffalo boy.”
[Laughing]
But, we were excited about it too. Do you know, it’s just another dimension; very interesting, completely different. But so far (except for building the high fence) they’ve been very easy to handle.
BC: How many acres have you had to put in of that fence?
SM: Now that’s a good question. They are right in front of our house, and there are two quite big meadows. And I’m not very good at gauging, but two huge meadows are devoted to the buffalo. And then we have a dam – George loves to fish – so we have a dam. And Tom’s plans are to build the fence on up so that it, you know, encompasses that ground too.
[14:24]
BC: And how many buffalo right now?
SM: We have 21 buffalo right now, and we’ll get 12 more in a month.
BC: And I assume that you do the same kind of feeding routine, breeding routine with them as you do with the cows then?
SM: Um-hmm. We do the same – actually, you do nothing to orchestrate buffalo; they do whatever they want.
[Laughing] Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 9
But, they breed back nearly 100%, and the only difficulty with them is running them through the shoot.
BC: Um-hmm.
SM: They have very, very thin windpipes, so you can’t rope them. You don’t move them horseback, you actually just open gates and wait until they’re ready to go through. And anyway, they are just very interesting.
Our ground is low in selenium, so we supplement you know, with selenium and copper, and we have noticed since we started supplementing that they are – well they were beautiful before – but now they are really beautiful. So that’s one thing about our ground: it does have the deficiency.
BC: So is there a reason George – has he moved into buffalo to diversify his market ability? Or is it just an interest? Or do you know?
SM: I think he’s just very interested. Tom said, “George, what do you want to do with these buffalo?” And he said, “That’s entirely up to you.” But buffalo meat is really nutritious and kind of at a premium right now.
BC: Um-hmm, right.
SM: So George is really, really kind of cutting edge business-wise, so I’m sure that there is a method to his madness.
BC: Any ideas on how big the herd will eventually get with buffalo?
[16:12]
SM: He wants 200.
BC: Then would that – you’re starting out with like, what did you say? Twenty-four?
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: Is that a genetically viable population to get that big, or will you have to add to it?
SM: Actually, we’ll have to add to it.
BC: Okay.
SM: Um-hmm. We just have one bull now, and so you know, as we build the herd we’ll need another bull. And then it’s a matter of having to buy new bulls so that you don’t get the same blood. Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 10
BC: Because I’ve done my share of fence-building: is Tom and his crew building the fence themselves, or is that a hired out deal? [Laughing]
SM: No, they’re building it themselves, and it is the rockiest ground you can imagine! So we have a post hole pounder – it’s a new accessory for the tractor, and it is a necessity. Then we’ve also just recently had to purchase a crawler because, do you know, we have to go through the river and through draws, and through rocks. And so it’s a new adventure.
BC: And so – what else was I sort of interested in? I’m losing my train of thought here. So what kinds of things in your lifetime have you seen change in ranching? Because you would have spanned quite a change in the whole operation.
SM: Um-hmm. Well I think all the good things have remained, as far as it being just a wonderful life, a wonderful way to raise kids. Both of my sons went on [LDS] missions, and they thought that their missions were vacations.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: My youngest son, when he was three or four, was already going with them. But he would ask Tom – Tom would say, “Are you going with us today, Jake?” And he would say, “Is the mountain going to be like this?” [Motioning with hands] This kind of an incline. “Or is it going to be like this?” [Laughs] And that was the decision-maker, whether he was going for the day.
[18:15]
But a great way to raise kids. So that aspect of it is the same.
The changes are, in being really aware of what impact you’re making, you know, on the ground that you have stewardship over. And also, we bleed the cows, and we bled the buffalo to see what they’re deficient in. So the supplementation is just a whole new thing that is improving, you know, the herds. In the olden days, you know, if your ground didn’t have something, was deficient in a mineral, then that’s all there was to it and so the herd suffered. So as far as new methods of taking care of the cattle.
The chutes are completely different, you know, the handling of the chutes. Tom worked – he graduated (as I mentioned) from Arizona State – worked with Temple Grandin – I don’t know if you’ve seen that movie?
BC: Hmm, yeah.
SM: But anyway, the strides that she’s made in processing cattle, you know, more humanely –
BC: Right.
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SM: Is an incredible move forward. You know, all the hooping and holling, and hot-shotting, you know, those kinds of things –
BC: Yeah.
SM: Are kind of gone from the picture, not that my little grandson is a real hooper and hollerer.
[Laughing]
But they tease me when I go up with them that I don’t do any of those things. I say, “Come on now, you know where to go.” So the handling of cattle has gotten to be much gentler, much softer, much more humane than it was in the olden days. So those are the main differences that I can think of, is just the increased care for the cattle and the land that you notice now.
BC: Do you use dogs at all?
[20:05]
SM: We don’t use dogs.
BC: With Temple Grandin, did she actually visit your ranch at all, or did Tom work with her?
SM: Tom worked with her. Again, going to school at Arizona State (as she did), Tom worked at Hughes and Ganz when he was going to college – which is that huge feedlot that you see in the movie.
BC: Okay, yeah.
SM: And anyway, Temple was there every single day observing, and you know, documenting. And her processing plans were implemented at Hughes and Ganz. So when we first came to the ranch here, there were a lot of things that were very backward. Just as we talked about before, every ranch is different. And so Tom made many changes, you know, first thing – as far as lead ups to the chute. We bought a new chute; you know, it’s really easy to hurt cattle in a chute. And once again, with working buffalo, we use inject-a-guns, instead of running them through the chute so much. And that’s something that years ago, nobody ever heard of, you know, was shooting from a distance a vaccine into the cattle.
BC: Okay, so it’s like, say a tranquilizer shot.
SM: It is exactly like a tranquilizer shot. But you can inject them with all the things they need, you know.
BC: And does the needle just fall out?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 12
SM: Drops out immediately. Um-hmm.
BC: Yeah, wow. So you don’t have to get up and –
SM: Nope, um-mm. So you pick up your needles at the end.
BC: So is your work, using some of Temple’s methods, have other people seen that and done the same thing in the area, do you know?
SM: Do you know – ranchers are just like any other group of people: some are very forward looking, very open-minded, and then of course some are you know, “if it was done that way before, then it’s good enough for me.”
BC: Right, yeah. I know sometimes if people see it they’re more apt to do it, then if they’re told to do it that way.
SM: Um-hmm, that’s right. People who have helped us always comment on how easy it is, you know, to work the cattle. The vet, Dr. Dimsmore, who comes to help us – he loves to come to the ranch because things go smoothly and he’s able to do the things that he needs to do easily: preg check, and all those kinds of things.
[22:36]
We do some artificial insemination, and that’s interesting and something that was unheard of in the olden days.
BC: How about – I know there’s been big changes in how marketing and selling the cattle has happened.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: How do you folks do that?
SM: We take all of our cattle to the Twin Falls Livestock. Tom is a real believer in free market, and he just feels like that is maybe one of the last places where you can actually see what you have that day is worth, you know. So we don’t sell our calves, you know, on the internet, or any of those kinds of things. We just take them straight to Twin Falls Livestock. Very honest, good people, and the cattle are handled right.
BC: And then I imagine those have to be – do you truck them up there?
SM: We do, um-hmm.
BC: Okay. And then it’s sort of interesting – how will the buffalo be marketed, do you know that? Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 13
SM: Well, that’s what I say; George said, “That’s entirely up to you,” and we haven’t gotten that far yet.
[Laughing]
BC: Right, yeah.
SM: But we are working with a man, his name is Sam May, in Thermopolis, Wyoming, who is very, very knowledgeable. They had all Semmintal cows, and just overnight sold all their Semmintals and just replaced them with buffalo. And that was maybe ten years ago; Tom sold farm equipment to them, so he knows them from the olden days. But a very, very knowledgeable man, so we’re relying on him for the expertise, because we are still not buffalo boys, but we’re getting there.
BC: Yeah. That’s really interesting that diversification, because it seems like that’s happened a lot in the more successful ranches, they’ve almost had to diversify out into other kinds of things. Does Tom, or do you do any other things to earn money, or just the ranch?
SM: No, just the ranch. But we love working for George, again because he is so open-minded. He is very open to new ideas and new things, and so I think the buffalo is just something he saw. We are going to solar energy, completely, at the ranch.
BC: Wow.
SM: I just got an email yesterday that said George had approved that project. And someone said to him, “You know George, that’s really not economically viable at this point in time.” And he said, “It’s not the money that I’m concerned about, it’s the right thing to do.” So that’s what makes it wonderful to work for him.
BC: Wow, that is.
SM: Because he is open to anything that is new, and has the resources to be able to put those things in effect.
BC: Wow. And then what about the role of the ranch wife, versus the ranch man (as it is) – is it different roles, or do you do the same kinds of things? Or how would you describe that?
SM: Well I take care of all the yards. There are seven houses –
[Laughing]
I try to keep up the yards and keep up the houses, and take care of that end of it. As I mentioned, Tom graduated in Ag Business, so I don’t try to go to the business end – he takes care of all of the business end of it. I do a lot with you know, just handling day-to-day needs of people who live on the ranch and work with us. We have a wonderful Indian man and his wife, and George’s ranch borders the Shoshone Indian Reservation Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 14
BC: Oh, okay.
[26:17]
SM: The forest is on one side, the Reservation is on the other, and George’s ranch is right in the middle. So it’s been interesting to work, you know, with the Indians.
BC: Is that the Duck Valley Reservation?
SM: No, Shoshone.
BC: Shoshone, okay. I guess Duck Valley is further west.
SM: Duck Valley is further – um-hmm, and north.
BC: Okay, yeah. Is there a particular name for that Reservation?
SM: It is Te-Moak, um-hmm.
BC: Okay.
SM: Te-Moak Tribe.
BC: And how many employees does Tom have?
SM: When we first started, there were many people who worked on the ranch. And that is a difficult thing to manage, you know. I think that anybody that has had ranch help recognizes that alcoholism is a big thing for ranch help, and that was a problem for us.
BC: Right.
SM: Now we have this wonderful Indian man, his name is Joe Blossom, his wife’s name is Wilma. And he is excellent, an older man, but with great experience. And then my oldest son graduated from University of Utah.
BC: Okay.
SM: And he said, “I’ll come back to the ranch and work for one year, but that’s all.” Because Tom really needed him; and that was eleven years ago.
[Laughing]
And now you couldn’t drag him away from the ranch. And my little grandson – I have no idea how you’d get him off the ranch. But anyway, so then Tom and I; and that’s the size of it. In the summertime we hire help to help us with the hay. And that has been a high school boy who has helped us for the last couple of years. But beyond that, it is very, Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 15
very hard work, and a lot of work for only that amount of people. But if you have a few good men it’s easier to manage, then a lot of men that have problems.
BC: And then do you do any kind of work sharing with other ranchers? Like brand – I mean are there any kind of community work events, or is that how you see in the movies?
SM: You know, we used to do quite a bit of that. But Tom has things organized; we pretty much brand right where the cows and calves are so that we don’t have to move them a long distance, and there’s not a lot of – you know what you see in the movies – a lot of hectic, a lot of people roping, a lot of people – it is pretty much we brand them right where they are. We have different little corrals on different parts of the ranch so that there’s virtually no stress. And we actually don’t need any help beyond our family.
BC: Interesting.
SM: Yeah. But as far as – women come to the ranch and say, “Oh my goodness! What do you do all day? Do you just talk on the phone?” You know, “There’s no place to shop.” And so it is a different way of life for ranch women.
BC: Do you have a vegetable garden there? Is that possible to do that?
SM: We have so many deer, that outside gardens are impossible. But George built a beautiful greenhouse for me.
BC: Oh, wow.
SM: Mm-hmm. So I raise quite a bit of produce in there. And then of course George loves flowers, so I plant jillions of flowers in pots. When he comes, we transport them all down to his house, hope the deer don’t eat them before he gets there! And then we bring them back again.
[29:51]
So this morning there were 12 deer. We have a crab apple tree in our backyard. I looked out my bedroom window and there were 12 deer standing on their hind legs, you know, eating the apples out of the tree. But we have lions, also, right by our house. We had 20 cats, and we’re down to one cat.
BC: Wow.
SM: So the lions are very close to our house. I watched one pick a kitten up right off the deck one day.
BC: Wow! That’s amazing.
SM: Um-hmm, yeah.
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 16
BC: So do you have other predator issues?
SM: We have many skunks and many raccoons, you know, lots of porcupines.
BC: Um-hmm. And you mentioned coyotes.
SM: Lots of coyote, um-hmm.
BC: Do they try to do any kind of a predator control, or anything like that?
SM: Trav and Tom, you know, both carry guns.
BC: Right.
SM: The coyotes are always a problem. Travis killed two yesterday. And back to the lions, my youngest son was coming up the driveway one day, and heard a strange noise, and there were three lions under our pickup.
BC: Wow.
SM: Right in our driveway.
BC: Do they give you any problems with eating your herd, or anything like that?
SM: Do you know what? We have not had that. There are so many deer [audio fades out and back in] because they take care of the beaver in the river. And so we don’t have to tear out so many dams as long as the lions are active.
BC: Right.
[31:24]
But the beaver – George built a beautiful swimming pool at his house, it comes out of the river, goes into the pool, and then back into the river again. Of course you can’t use any chemicals, or heat it or anything like that.
BC: Right, yeah.
SM: So the very first day they finished the swimming pool, we went down and the beavers had felled five aspen trees right over the swimming pool.
BC: Uh-huh.
SM: They were going to build a great dam there. So anyway, we have a little bit of everything. But it’s beautiful. Lots of eagles, all kinds of birds.
BC: And you’re on the west side of the Ruby Mountains, right? Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 17
SM: We’re on the west side of the Ruby Mountains, um-hmm.
BC: West side. And what do you see for the future of ranching?
SM: Well I can only see that it will just improve along those same lines, you know. Technology has made a huge difference in the way cattle are marketed, and in the way that you learn of new technologies, new kinds of things that help. Everything from machinery, new machinery – we have great balers, we have great tractors. We have great new things as far as supplementation of feed, as I mentioned before.
BC: I was going to ask about that: when you test the cattle, you don’t test them all do you?
SM: Do you know what, that is so interesting – we bleed every single one, and we send the results to UNR, and they send results back to you for every single cow that you’ve bled. And we went to the doctor not long ago and said, you know, “Why is it that you don’t do more extensive blood tests? You know, you go for a blood test to the doctor and you have like six little things.” And they said, “Quite frankly, it’s too expensive to do.” So isn’t it interesting that we bleed our cows, and it’s not very expensive.
BC: Yeah.
[33:31]
SM: But we are not as well taken care of.
BC: Less of a bureaucracy probably.
[Laughing]
SM: That’s right, insurance!
BC: Yeah.
[Laughing]
Well, Sharon is there anything else that you would like to say?
SM: Well I appreciate the work that you’re doing. I think it’s very important to document, you know, this kind of history and the kinds of things that are happening in the ranching community. So thank you for your work.
BC: You’re welcome. That was one other question I had: my wife and I have played around with trying to do barefoot trimming with our horses.
SM: Um-hmm?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 18
BC: Is there any thought of that at your ranch?
SM: Do you know what? That is so interesting – I have a little niece who does that.
BC: Um-hmm.
SM: She lives in the Sacramento/San Francisco area, and she does that. But we absolutely have to have shoes because of the rocks and, you know, the rough terrain.
BC: Right.
SM: We pull the horses’ shoes off, usually in the winter time.
BC: Um-hmm, yeah.
SM: And try to keep them, you know. But as far as the health of both the herd, and our horses, they are exceedingly healthy, well-taken care of.
BC: Yeah.
SM: We’re very thankful for good vets and, you know, those new kinds of things to help us take care of them.
BC: Alright, is there anything else you’d like to add then?
SM: I think that’s all.
BC: Okay, thanks a lot for doing this.
SM: Thank you.
[End recording]

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Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 1
RANCH FAMILY DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee: Sharon Miller
Place of Interview: Western Folklife Center, Elko, NV
Date of Interview: 30 October 2010
Interviewer: Brad Cole
Recordist: Brad Cole
Recording Equipment: RadioShack Cassette Tape Recorder CTR-122; Audio-technical Omni directional microphone ATR35s
Transcription Equipment: Power Player Transcription Software: Executive Communication Systems with foot pedal
Transcribed by: Susan Gross
Transcript Proofed by: Randy Williams (11/21/2010); Brad Cole (1/31/2011); Sharon did not return transcript with edits (3 August 2011)
Brief Description of Contents: Sharon talks about her family history in ranching and her adult and married life as a ranching wife. She talks about managing a ranch with her husband, raising their family on a ranch and the differences in raising beef and buffalo.
Reference: BC = Brad Cole (Interviewer)
SM = Sharon Miller (Interviewee)
NOTE: Interjections during pauses or transitions in dialogue such as “uh” and starts and stops in conversations are not included in transcribed. All additions to transcript are noted with brackets.
TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
[00:01]
BC: Brad Cole from Utah State University, Special Collections and Archives. It’s October 30th. And we’re here today in Elko, Nevada, at the Western Folklife Center visiting with Sharon and I can’t remember –
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 2
SM: Miller.
BC: Miller.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: Sharon, whenever I do an oral history, I like to always start from the very beginning and ask you when and where were you born?
SM: I was born in Springerville, Arizona, in January 31st, 1948.
BC: Okay. And who were your parents, and what was your maiden name?
SM: My maiden name was Wilhelm. My dad is James Emmett Wilhelm, and my mother is Zeldine Jarvis Dahm.
BC: Okay. And what kinds of things did they do?
SM: They both were ranchers. My grandparents were ranchers, and their parents were ranchers. So we are many generations of ranching.
BC: And just so the people know, where exactly is Springerville, Arizona?
SM: Springerville is in the White Mountains of Arizona.
BC: Okay.
SM: Just near the New Mexico border, about the middle of Arizona.
BC: Okay. And what are some of your memories growing up there?
[01:16]
SM: Well, one of my first memories is riding on the front of my dad’s horse, and I have no idea – I wasn’t a year old. It’s one of those, you know, just pinpoints of time. And a horse had eaten loco, and had hung himself in the crook of a tree. So that is one of my earliest memories. But my mom tells me that we would ride and ride and ride, and then she and I would get off, and I would take a nap. And then we would get back on and go on with my dad some more.
BC: And did you spend your whole childhood in Springerville, Arizona?
SM: No. We moved all over Arizona. But we were always in ranching.
BC: And then as far as arriving in Elko, Nevada, when did you arrive here?
SM: We have been here for 23 years; we manage George Gunn’s ranch. Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 3
BC: Okay.
SM: In Lee, Nevada.
BC: Okay. And where is Lee?
SM: Lee is about 30 miles south of Spring Creek.
BC: Okay. And you managed that for 23 years? So your husband’s name is?
SM: Tom Miller.
BC: Tom Miller.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: And how did you meet Tom?
[02:30]
SM: Well, I met him in high school. But he was kind of rowdy, so we didn’t date in high school. We graduated from Arizona State – he graduated in Ag Business. And we met there and were married in 1973.
BC: Great. And then you came to Elko then?
SM: No. Then he managed a farm equipment store in Chandler, Arizona – New Holland farm equipment. And then we moved to Winnemucca, and he managed the store there. And then we had the opportunity to come back to the ranch, so we took that opportunity. We have two sons, didn’t want to move to the city. And so we decided to move back to the ranch. And of course, that was a great cut in pay. People thought we had completely lost our minds, but a very good thing to do.
BC: And what are the names of your boys?
SM: Travis is the oldest, and Jake is the youngest; born eight years apart, to the day. Travis still ranches with us there, and my youngest is going to medical school in Omaha.
BC: Great, wow.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: And so what kinds of things does a ranch manager, or ranch managing family, do?
[03:49] Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 4
SM: Well, you do everything from brand and cut, to taking care of the business end of it, and trying to take care of the environmental end of it (that’s an important part now, is to make sure you are a wise steward). And especially since we manage it for someone else, you know, their interests are always foremost. And so we try to do the very best we can to manage it as if it was our own, but keeping in mind that we, you know, are just there as stewards – that one day we’ll be turned out to pasture! [Laughs]
BC: And what is the size of the ranch that you folks manage?
SM: There are 20,000 gated acres, and then George has eight canyons of forest permit. So it is huge; it’s most of the western side of the Rubies.
BC: Wow. So maybe just describe sort of a typical annual cycle of ranching, maybe starting in the winter through, you know, this time of the year (which is the fall).
SM: Ranching is typically growing the hay, cutting the hay, and feeding the hay. So in January, of course, you’re feeding the hay. My husband gets up at 3:30 every morning to feed the cows because he things that as cold as it is in the Ruby Mountains, that that helps for them to be eating, for their metabolism to be active early. And then it’s so cold, that actually you know, frost and ice are on the cows’ mouths. So if they’re eating then that doesn’t happen and the health of the herd stays better because of that.
[05:38]
So we feed in January. And of course all the way, depending on the winter, sometimes all the way through May there is deep snow. The first year we moved here it snowed over three feet on Memorial Day.
BC: Wow.
SM: So, as soon as we’re finished feeding, then of course we start irrigating. And then we irrigate and then hay all of the meadows (it’s all meadow hay, we don’t have any alfalfa). And then around the first of July we cut the hay. And about the same time, we take the cattle up the mountain. They’re Semmintal cows, bred to go to the very top of the mountain; so we don’t have any problems with riparian areas, you know, being damaged, or any of those kinds of issues that other ranches sometimes have. South fork of the Humboldt River runs right through the ranch, so we have plenty of water.
So about the same time we start cutting hay, they take the cows up the mountain and they stay there all summer. When we’re finished cutting the hay, then we bring the cows back off the mountain. And we calve in the fall, because the winters are so severe, and the springs (as I mentioned) still we have so much moisture and so much cold weather.
When we first started managing the ranch, they calved in the spring and calves would freeze to the ground, or you know, get upside down in the creeks and in the Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 5
river, and the coyotes would eat the calves. And so we didn’t like that, and so we changed the herd so that they calve in the fall. So we have that and it’s beautiful. The meadows are cut and the calves just can, you know, lay right down on what looks like huge lawns.
BC: Wow.
SM: And they do so well. We typically lose maybe one, and that’s all calf loss-wise. And then we put the bulls in with them around November, to start that cycle again. And George has decided now that he wants buffalo.
BC: Oh really?
[07:56]
SM: So in that little interim, before we have to start feeding again, after the hay is cut and stacked, then we have been building buffalo fence (which is seven foot tall fence that we build out of drillers steel), and that’s been an interesting addition to the herd.
BC: One more question about the herd.
SM: Sure.
BC: Is Semmintal a usual breed on a cow ranch around here, or is that a little bit different?
SM: There aren’t very many Semmintal – I don’t know of another Semmintal ranch right here. There is one in Idaho that we have bought bulls from in the past. But George likes red Semmintal cattle, and they are really kind of a dying breed. It’s hard to even find red bulls, more people are going to black meat because, interestingly enough, Japanese people think they can tell the difference between red and black meat.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: I wonder, but –
[Laughing]
But anyway, so many cattleman have gone to black Angus. And we do have – some of the herd is a mix: Angus and Semmintal. But we do have, you know, mostly pure Semmintal cattle.
[09:16]
BC: And then what is your methodology for haying now? Have you gone to the more mechanized system, with larger bales?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 6
SM: Um-hmm. Well, with Tom’s background, you know, in machinery –
BC: Right.
SM: We do big, round bales. And that’s easiest for us to feed, you know. We can take the big bales and stack them, and it’s not a matter of handling, you know, a lot of little bales.
BC: Um-hmm, right.
SM: And then in the dead of winter, when everything is blue – when the sky and the snow and everything is the same color – very easy to feed that.
BC: Um-hmm. And then does the water flow all year? Do you have –
SM: It does, um-hmm.
BC: So that makes it so you don’t have to worry about breaking ice on water.
SM: Umm-mm; nope, we don’t have to break ice; down where the horses are we do. But through the horse lot the river runs, so that’s not an issue. It is the best ranch I have ever seen because of the you know, availability of water. And then we get the first water off the mountain.
BC: Um-hmm. How long, do you know, has George owned this ranch?
[10:30]
SM: Since the [19]‘70s.
BC: Okay.
SM: And he put five different ranches together, actually. Right where we live is the Exitor, and then there’s the Stoddard, and the Grizwold, and the Carpenter; and then my son lives on another part of the ranch, which is on the Jiggs Highway. And that is the Old Clemen place.
BC: And what’s George’s background?
SM: George is the most interesting man I have ever met in my life.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: We absolutely love working for him. His dad and granddad were [?? – 11:05] years ago –
BC: Hmm.
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 7
SM: Anyway, they developed some kind of a new way to – I don’t know anything about beer – but anyway, from this way of brewing this beer they also were able to figure out Sanka. And he is involved with Kellogg’s cereal, his family. The Gund Foundation – they do a lot with education: Reading Rainbow. So it’s a wonderful foundation. They’ve come to the ranch a couple of times and met there.
[11:40]
He is very interested in film. His wife is a documentary film maker, and she is a wonderful little person. And anyway, I think anything in the world that is interesting, is interesting to George. He is a fascinating man.
BC: So he is not from a ranching background then?
SM: I’m not positive about that. His dad was interested in ranching.
BC: Then you mentioned – is most of your ranch work still done on horseback?
SM: Um-hmm, yeah. There’s just no other way to get up the mountains, except horseback. Yeah, we do have four-wheelers, you know for down around in the meadows, for irrigating and things like that.
BC: And how many horses do you have?
SM: We have about 25 horses.
BC: Any specific breeds?
SM: The stud that we have now is a Driftwood Ike stud, so he is absolutely beautiful: just prime quarter horse blood. And then I have a little colt that has Secretariat and Seattle Slew!
BC: Wow!
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: So have you been to the movie yet?
SM: We have been to the movie! [Laughing]
[12:59]
BC: My wife wants to go to the movie; I married into the horse business.
[Laughing]
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 8
SM: It is an excellent movie.
BC: Good.
SM: My little grandson is so proud that, Oliver, he was a little orphan colt. His mother died, the mare died, and so we fed him around the clock, every three hours.
BC: Wow.
SM: And he is a beautiful little horse. But my little grandson is convinced that he is going to be a race horse.
[Laughing]
BC: Funny. Well we need to get back to the buffalo: tell me a little bit more about it.
SM: Very interesting. When George first said, “I want buffalo.” Tom said, “I’m a cowboy, not a buffalo boy.”
[Laughing]
But, we were excited about it too. Do you know, it’s just another dimension; very interesting, completely different. But so far (except for building the high fence) they’ve been very easy to handle.
BC: How many acres have you had to put in of that fence?
SM: Now that’s a good question. They are right in front of our house, and there are two quite big meadows. And I’m not very good at gauging, but two huge meadows are devoted to the buffalo. And then we have a dam – George loves to fish – so we have a dam. And Tom’s plans are to build the fence on up so that it, you know, encompasses that ground too.
[14:24]
BC: And how many buffalo right now?
SM: We have 21 buffalo right now, and we’ll get 12 more in a month.
BC: And I assume that you do the same kind of feeding routine, breeding routine with them as you do with the cows then?
SM: Um-hmm. We do the same – actually, you do nothing to orchestrate buffalo; they do whatever they want.
[Laughing] Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 9
But, they breed back nearly 100%, and the only difficulty with them is running them through the shoot.
BC: Um-hmm.
SM: They have very, very thin windpipes, so you can’t rope them. You don’t move them horseback, you actually just open gates and wait until they’re ready to go through. And anyway, they are just very interesting.
Our ground is low in selenium, so we supplement you know, with selenium and copper, and we have noticed since we started supplementing that they are – well they were beautiful before – but now they are really beautiful. So that’s one thing about our ground: it does have the deficiency.
BC: So is there a reason George – has he moved into buffalo to diversify his market ability? Or is it just an interest? Or do you know?
SM: I think he’s just very interested. Tom said, “George, what do you want to do with these buffalo?” And he said, “That’s entirely up to you.” But buffalo meat is really nutritious and kind of at a premium right now.
BC: Um-hmm, right.
SM: So George is really, really kind of cutting edge business-wise, so I’m sure that there is a method to his madness.
BC: Any ideas on how big the herd will eventually get with buffalo?
[16:12]
SM: He wants 200.
BC: Then would that – you’re starting out with like, what did you say? Twenty-four?
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: Is that a genetically viable population to get that big, or will you have to add to it?
SM: Actually, we’ll have to add to it.
BC: Okay.
SM: Um-hmm. We just have one bull now, and so you know, as we build the herd we’ll need another bull. And then it’s a matter of having to buy new bulls so that you don’t get the same blood. Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 10
BC: Because I’ve done my share of fence-building: is Tom and his crew building the fence themselves, or is that a hired out deal? [Laughing]
SM: No, they’re building it themselves, and it is the rockiest ground you can imagine! So we have a post hole pounder – it’s a new accessory for the tractor, and it is a necessity. Then we’ve also just recently had to purchase a crawler because, do you know, we have to go through the river and through draws, and through rocks. And so it’s a new adventure.
BC: And so – what else was I sort of interested in? I’m losing my train of thought here. So what kinds of things in your lifetime have you seen change in ranching? Because you would have spanned quite a change in the whole operation.
SM: Um-hmm. Well I think all the good things have remained, as far as it being just a wonderful life, a wonderful way to raise kids. Both of my sons went on [LDS] missions, and they thought that their missions were vacations.
BC: [Laughing]
SM: My youngest son, when he was three or four, was already going with them. But he would ask Tom – Tom would say, “Are you going with us today, Jake?” And he would say, “Is the mountain going to be like this?” [Motioning with hands] This kind of an incline. “Or is it going to be like this?” [Laughs] And that was the decision-maker, whether he was going for the day.
[18:15]
But a great way to raise kids. So that aspect of it is the same.
The changes are, in being really aware of what impact you’re making, you know, on the ground that you have stewardship over. And also, we bleed the cows, and we bled the buffalo to see what they’re deficient in. So the supplementation is just a whole new thing that is improving, you know, the herds. In the olden days, you know, if your ground didn’t have something, was deficient in a mineral, then that’s all there was to it and so the herd suffered. So as far as new methods of taking care of the cattle.
The chutes are completely different, you know, the handling of the chutes. Tom worked – he graduated (as I mentioned) from Arizona State – worked with Temple Grandin – I don’t know if you’ve seen that movie?
BC: Hmm, yeah.
SM: But anyway, the strides that she’s made in processing cattle, you know, more humanely –
BC: Right.
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 11
SM: Is an incredible move forward. You know, all the hooping and holling, and hot-shotting, you know, those kinds of things –
BC: Yeah.
SM: Are kind of gone from the picture, not that my little grandson is a real hooper and hollerer.
[Laughing]
But they tease me when I go up with them that I don’t do any of those things. I say, “Come on now, you know where to go.” So the handling of cattle has gotten to be much gentler, much softer, much more humane than it was in the olden days. So those are the main differences that I can think of, is just the increased care for the cattle and the land that you notice now.
BC: Do you use dogs at all?
[20:05]
SM: We don’t use dogs.
BC: With Temple Grandin, did she actually visit your ranch at all, or did Tom work with her?
SM: Tom worked with her. Again, going to school at Arizona State (as she did), Tom worked at Hughes and Ganz when he was going to college – which is that huge feedlot that you see in the movie.
BC: Okay, yeah.
SM: And anyway, Temple was there every single day observing, and you know, documenting. And her processing plans were implemented at Hughes and Ganz. So when we first came to the ranch here, there were a lot of things that were very backward. Just as we talked about before, every ranch is different. And so Tom made many changes, you know, first thing – as far as lead ups to the chute. We bought a new chute; you know, it’s really easy to hurt cattle in a chute. And once again, with working buffalo, we use inject-a-guns, instead of running them through the chute so much. And that’s something that years ago, nobody ever heard of, you know, was shooting from a distance a vaccine into the cattle.
BC: Okay, so it’s like, say a tranquilizer shot.
SM: It is exactly like a tranquilizer shot. But you can inject them with all the things they need, you know.
BC: And does the needle just fall out?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 12
SM: Drops out immediately. Um-hmm.
BC: Yeah, wow. So you don’t have to get up and –
SM: Nope, um-mm. So you pick up your needles at the end.
BC: So is your work, using some of Temple’s methods, have other people seen that and done the same thing in the area, do you know?
SM: Do you know – ranchers are just like any other group of people: some are very forward looking, very open-minded, and then of course some are you know, “if it was done that way before, then it’s good enough for me.”
BC: Right, yeah. I know sometimes if people see it they’re more apt to do it, then if they’re told to do it that way.
SM: Um-hmm, that’s right. People who have helped us always comment on how easy it is, you know, to work the cattle. The vet, Dr. Dimsmore, who comes to help us – he loves to come to the ranch because things go smoothly and he’s able to do the things that he needs to do easily: preg check, and all those kinds of things.
[22:36]
We do some artificial insemination, and that’s interesting and something that was unheard of in the olden days.
BC: How about – I know there’s been big changes in how marketing and selling the cattle has happened.
SM: Um-hmm.
BC: How do you folks do that?
SM: We take all of our cattle to the Twin Falls Livestock. Tom is a real believer in free market, and he just feels like that is maybe one of the last places where you can actually see what you have that day is worth, you know. So we don’t sell our calves, you know, on the internet, or any of those kinds of things. We just take them straight to Twin Falls Livestock. Very honest, good people, and the cattle are handled right.
BC: And then I imagine those have to be – do you truck them up there?
SM: We do, um-hmm.
BC: Okay. And then it’s sort of interesting – how will the buffalo be marketed, do you know that? Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 13
SM: Well, that’s what I say; George said, “That’s entirely up to you,” and we haven’t gotten that far yet.
[Laughing]
BC: Right, yeah.
SM: But we are working with a man, his name is Sam May, in Thermopolis, Wyoming, who is very, very knowledgeable. They had all Semmintal cows, and just overnight sold all their Semmintals and just replaced them with buffalo. And that was maybe ten years ago; Tom sold farm equipment to them, so he knows them from the olden days. But a very, very knowledgeable man, so we’re relying on him for the expertise, because we are still not buffalo boys, but we’re getting there.
BC: Yeah. That’s really interesting that diversification, because it seems like that’s happened a lot in the more successful ranches, they’ve almost had to diversify out into other kinds of things. Does Tom, or do you do any other things to earn money, or just the ranch?
SM: No, just the ranch. But we love working for George, again because he is so open-minded. He is very open to new ideas and new things, and so I think the buffalo is just something he saw. We are going to solar energy, completely, at the ranch.
BC: Wow.
SM: I just got an email yesterday that said George had approved that project. And someone said to him, “You know George, that’s really not economically viable at this point in time.” And he said, “It’s not the money that I’m concerned about, it’s the right thing to do.” So that’s what makes it wonderful to work for him.
BC: Wow, that is.
SM: Because he is open to anything that is new, and has the resources to be able to put those things in effect.
BC: Wow. And then what about the role of the ranch wife, versus the ranch man (as it is) – is it different roles, or do you do the same kinds of things? Or how would you describe that?
SM: Well I take care of all the yards. There are seven houses –
[Laughing]
I try to keep up the yards and keep up the houses, and take care of that end of it. As I mentioned, Tom graduated in Ag Business, so I don’t try to go to the business end – he takes care of all of the business end of it. I do a lot with you know, just handling day-to-day needs of people who live on the ranch and work with us. We have a wonderful Indian man and his wife, and George’s ranch borders the Shoshone Indian Reservation Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 14
BC: Oh, okay.
[26:17]
SM: The forest is on one side, the Reservation is on the other, and George’s ranch is right in the middle. So it’s been interesting to work, you know, with the Indians.
BC: Is that the Duck Valley Reservation?
SM: No, Shoshone.
BC: Shoshone, okay. I guess Duck Valley is further west.
SM: Duck Valley is further – um-hmm, and north.
BC: Okay, yeah. Is there a particular name for that Reservation?
SM: It is Te-Moak, um-hmm.
BC: Okay.
SM: Te-Moak Tribe.
BC: And how many employees does Tom have?
SM: When we first started, there were many people who worked on the ranch. And that is a difficult thing to manage, you know. I think that anybody that has had ranch help recognizes that alcoholism is a big thing for ranch help, and that was a problem for us.
BC: Right.
SM: Now we have this wonderful Indian man, his name is Joe Blossom, his wife’s name is Wilma. And he is excellent, an older man, but with great experience. And then my oldest son graduated from University of Utah.
BC: Okay.
SM: And he said, “I’ll come back to the ranch and work for one year, but that’s all.” Because Tom really needed him; and that was eleven years ago.
[Laughing]
And now you couldn’t drag him away from the ranch. And my little grandson – I have no idea how you’d get him off the ranch. But anyway, so then Tom and I; and that’s the size of it. In the summertime we hire help to help us with the hay. And that has been a high school boy who has helped us for the last couple of years. But beyond that, it is very, Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 15
very hard work, and a lot of work for only that amount of people. But if you have a few good men it’s easier to manage, then a lot of men that have problems.
BC: And then do you do any kind of work sharing with other ranchers? Like brand – I mean are there any kind of community work events, or is that how you see in the movies?
SM: You know, we used to do quite a bit of that. But Tom has things organized; we pretty much brand right where the cows and calves are so that we don’t have to move them a long distance, and there’s not a lot of – you know what you see in the movies – a lot of hectic, a lot of people roping, a lot of people – it is pretty much we brand them right where they are. We have different little corrals on different parts of the ranch so that there’s virtually no stress. And we actually don’t need any help beyond our family.
BC: Interesting.
SM: Yeah. But as far as – women come to the ranch and say, “Oh my goodness! What do you do all day? Do you just talk on the phone?” You know, “There’s no place to shop.” And so it is a different way of life for ranch women.
BC: Do you have a vegetable garden there? Is that possible to do that?
SM: We have so many deer, that outside gardens are impossible. But George built a beautiful greenhouse for me.
BC: Oh, wow.
SM: Mm-hmm. So I raise quite a bit of produce in there. And then of course George loves flowers, so I plant jillions of flowers in pots. When he comes, we transport them all down to his house, hope the deer don’t eat them before he gets there! And then we bring them back again.
[29:51]
So this morning there were 12 deer. We have a crab apple tree in our backyard. I looked out my bedroom window and there were 12 deer standing on their hind legs, you know, eating the apples out of the tree. But we have lions, also, right by our house. We had 20 cats, and we’re down to one cat.
BC: Wow.
SM: So the lions are very close to our house. I watched one pick a kitten up right off the deck one day.
BC: Wow! That’s amazing.
SM: Um-hmm, yeah.
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 16
BC: So do you have other predator issues?
SM: We have many skunks and many raccoons, you know, lots of porcupines.
BC: Um-hmm. And you mentioned coyotes.
SM: Lots of coyote, um-hmm.
BC: Do they try to do any kind of a predator control, or anything like that?
SM: Trav and Tom, you know, both carry guns.
BC: Right.
SM: The coyotes are always a problem. Travis killed two yesterday. And back to the lions, my youngest son was coming up the driveway one day, and heard a strange noise, and there were three lions under our pickup.
BC: Wow.
SM: Right in our driveway.
BC: Do they give you any problems with eating your herd, or anything like that?
SM: Do you know what? We have not had that. There are so many deer [audio fades out and back in] because they take care of the beaver in the river. And so we don’t have to tear out so many dams as long as the lions are active.
BC: Right.
[31:24]
But the beaver – George built a beautiful swimming pool at his house, it comes out of the river, goes into the pool, and then back into the river again. Of course you can’t use any chemicals, or heat it or anything like that.
BC: Right, yeah.
SM: So the very first day they finished the swimming pool, we went down and the beavers had felled five aspen trees right over the swimming pool.
BC: Uh-huh.
SM: They were going to build a great dam there. So anyway, we have a little bit of everything. But it’s beautiful. Lots of eagles, all kinds of birds.
BC: And you’re on the west side of the Ruby Mountains, right? Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 17
SM: We’re on the west side of the Ruby Mountains, um-hmm.
BC: West side. And what do you see for the future of ranching?
SM: Well I can only see that it will just improve along those same lines, you know. Technology has made a huge difference in the way cattle are marketed, and in the way that you learn of new technologies, new kinds of things that help. Everything from machinery, new machinery – we have great balers, we have great tractors. We have great new things as far as supplementation of feed, as I mentioned before.
BC: I was going to ask about that: when you test the cattle, you don’t test them all do you?
SM: Do you know what, that is so interesting – we bleed every single one, and we send the results to UNR, and they send results back to you for every single cow that you’ve bled. And we went to the doctor not long ago and said, you know, “Why is it that you don’t do more extensive blood tests? You know, you go for a blood test to the doctor and you have like six little things.” And they said, “Quite frankly, it’s too expensive to do.” So isn’t it interesting that we bleed our cows, and it’s not very expensive.
BC: Yeah.
[33:31]
SM: But we are not as well taken care of.
BC: Less of a bureaucracy probably.
[Laughing]
SM: That’s right, insurance!
BC: Yeah.
[Laughing]
Well, Sharon is there anything else that you would like to say?
SM: Well I appreciate the work that you’re doing. I think it’s very important to document, you know, this kind of history and the kinds of things that are happening in the ranching community. So thank you for your work.
BC: You’re welcome. That was one other question I had: my wife and I have played around with trying to do barefoot trimming with our horses.
SM: Um-hmm?
Ranch Family Oral History Project: Sharon Miller Page 18
BC: Is there any thought of that at your ranch?
SM: Do you know what? That is so interesting – I have a little niece who does that.
BC: Um-hmm.
SM: She lives in the Sacramento/San Francisco area, and she does that. But we absolutely have to have shoes because of the rocks and, you know, the rough terrain.
BC: Right.
SM: We pull the horses’ shoes off, usually in the winter time.
BC: Um-hmm, yeah.
SM: And try to keep them, you know. But as far as the health of both the herd, and our horses, they are exceedingly healthy, well-taken care of.
BC: Yeah.
SM: We’re very thankful for good vets and, you know, those new kinds of things to help us take care of them.
BC: Alright, is there anything else you’d like to add then?
SM: I think that’s all.
BC: Okay, thanks a lot for doing this.
SM: Thank you.
[End recording]